Learning from Notes

TLDR

The study examines how Lotus Notes® adoption in a large organization’s office alters work practices and social interactions. The findings show that mental models and structural factors such as reward systems and workplace norms shape groupware implementation, and without collaborative mental models or cooperative cultures, Lotus Notes® is likely to be used as a personal tool rather than fostering collaboration.

Abstract

Abstract This paper explores the introduction of a group‐ware technology—Lotus Corporation's Notes®—into one office of a large organization and attempts to understand the changes in work practices and social interaction facilitated by the technology. The results reveal that a number of organizational elements, such as mental models (which affect how people understand and appropriate groupware) and structural properties (reward systems and workplace norms), significantly influence how group‐ware technology is implemented and used. Specifically, the findings suggest that in the absence of mental models that appreciate the collaborative nature of groupware, such technologies will be interpreted in terms of more familiar personal and stand‐alone technologies, such as spreadsheets. Further, in competitive and individualistic organizational cultures—where there are few incentives or norms for cooperating or sharing expertise—groupware on its own is unlikely to engender collaboration. Such products will be inter...